Jeff Brohm Barely Cracks Top-25 of Updated Power Conference Coach Rankings

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Year three of the Jeff Brohm era of the Louisville football program might not have had a super strong second half of the season, but overall, it was still a successful campaign. The Cardinals the year 7-1, en route to finishing 9-4 overall with a 4-4 mark in ACC play.

While last season featured a three-game losing streak during the month of November, there were still some high marks. Louisville earned an upset victory at then-No. 2 and eventual national runner-up Miami. They thrashed rival Kentucky 41-0, eventually resulting in the firing of head coach Mark Stoops. Then with a 27-22 victory over Toledo in the Boca Raton Bowl, Brohm earned back-to-back bowl wins for the first time since his tenure at Western Kentucky, while it was the first time for Louisville since 2012-13.

Brohm improves to 28-12 as the head coach at Louisville (and 94-56 as a head coach overall), and is regarded as one of the top coaches in the sport given what he has been able to accomplish at non-traditional football power. However, if you ask the folks over at CBS Sports, Brohm's shine is starting to wane a bit.

On Wednesday, the outlet released the top-25 of their annual rankings of every coach in the Power Four. After being the number No. 17 coach on last year's iteration of this list, Brohm saw his ranking fall seven spots to No. 24, with Louisville's sliding record in ACC play during his three years being cited as the primary reason.

"Louisville has been remarkably consistent under Jeff Brohm," CBS Sports' Tom Fornelli wrote. "They've finished each of his three seasons with four losses, but the problem is that after going 7-1 in the ACC in Brohm's first season, they've gone 5-3 and then 4-4 last year. That's led to Brohm sliding down our voters' ballots, but for now, he remains one of the 25 best."

Brohm is regarded as the fifth-best coach in the ACC per CBS Sports' rankings, behind Miami's Mario Cristobal at No. 7, Clemson's Dabo Swinney at No. 11, Virginia Tech's James Franklin at No. 13 and SMU's Rhett Lashlee at No. 15. Indiana's Curt Cignetti, Georgia's Kirby Smart, Ohio State's Ryan Day, Notre Dame's Marcus Freeman and Oregon's Dan Lanning round out the top five.

The logic is behind Brohm's slide is at least somewhat understandable, especially when you add in the fact that Louisville has had at least one extremely questionable loss in every season under Brohm so far. But at the same time, the Cardinals have also turned into one of the best programs in the ACC under his guidance, so one would think he would at least be ranked inside the top-20.

Regardless, Brohm has an excellent opportunity in front of him to showcase that he is among the best coaches in the ACC. Between bringing back multiple impact players like Isaac Brown and Clev Lubin, and bringing in a highly-ranked portal class headlined by guys like Tre Richardson and Koen Entringer, the Cardinals are not only generating a lot of top-25 buzz, but are being regarded as a team who can contend for the ACC and the College Football Playoff.

The Cardinals will kick off their 2026 campaign at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn. against Ole Miss on Sunday, Sept. 6 at 7:30 p.m. EST.

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